Facebook Wants to Work With Ad Agencies

Facebook, which has until now worked directly with brands themselves, is finally looking to work with ad agencies, reports The New York Times.

The
company has started a web site where agencies can show off their work
and is hiring a staff to work exclusively with those agencies to design a
space for ads on Facebook. Currently, the social media giant displays
seven types of ads in spaces they call "ad units." Last August, it
invited ad agencies and holding companies to help design an eighth unit.
Of the 100 submissions, Publicis Groupe's Leo Burnett Chicago's was
chosen.

The
new ad unit will be able to question users and allow them to respond
(the other seven units just allow user to "like" the ads). The new space
will initially be exclusive to only a few brands, but will expand to
others in the coming months. The initial brands are Hallmark, Sealy,
Walgreens and the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

For
marketers who want to show off their creativity using Facebook, the
company created Facebook Studio, where agencies can post successful
campaigns. As of Tuesday, the web page had 23,000 "likes."